A cheerful note was struck for the Jews of this city today.
Three thousand men and women gathered at the Berliner Anhalterbanhof to express their good wishes to the one hundred and fifty young Pioneers (known as Chalutzim) who are bound for Palestine. Their departure was converted into a joyous Palestinian demonstration, with “Hatikvah,” the Zionist hymn, being sung at the railroad station, in the surprised hearing of hundreds of non-Jews.
The departure of the one hundred and fifty Pioneers synchronized today with the announcement by the Palestine office here that it would refuse to accept applications from members of the non-capitalist classification who wished to go to Palestine. To be in the capitalist classification a Palestinian settler must bring with him the equivalent of 1,000 pounds. No more certificates for Palestine settlers from Germany are to be available until next December. The thousand certificates which had been received against future immigration schedules already had been exhausted.
Conditions in Palestine have a promising aspect and many cities are “an inspiration in Jewish energy, resourcefulness, vigor and hope,” the Rev. Dr. David de Sola Pool, rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue Shearith Israel, said on his return from a tour of the world.
The Holy Land was described by Dr. de Sola Pool as indicating “extraordinary development.” The city of Tel Aviv and Sharon settlements are especially prosperous, and he added that in a great many other communities there is only “limited” progress. Jerusalem and Safed have inadequate water facilities, said the rabbik, and inhabitants are suffering as a result.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
